Bordeaux EP 16: Best Sellers, Must Haves & Best Value Wines

The 2016 Bordeaux En Primeur campaign was one of the fastest that we have ever seen, bookended by two of the wines of the vintage; commencing with Cos d’Estournel on 25^th April and ending with Lafite Rothschild on 14^th June. The 2016 campaign was 30 days shorter than the average of previous years: it is also one of the finest Left Bank vintages of a lifetime. Thus, releases came thick and fast – some days we saw an excess of eight major releases.

We provided analysis for each leading wine, allowing the data and citric scores to deliver an objective judgement. This type of campaign means that it is easy to miss out on key releases, particularly towards the end of the campaign where aggressively priced wines detracted from others which still offer great value.

We are pleased to circulate a round-up of remaining wines that we can still offer, including some of our best sellers, gems of the vintage and great value wines. You can find the full analysis of each wine by simply clicking on each link.

In 2016 demand was very high. Cos d’Estournel was our biggest seller of the vintage with well over 2,000 bottles sold. We sold over 100 cases of numerous other wines. Here is a summary of the remaining best sellers, all highly recommended should you have missed anything here.

Best Sellers

Supply was reduced in 2016 due to the frost experienced in the vineyards at the end of May. This meant many Chateaux reduced allocations in 2016 by as much as 50% in preparation for reduced yields and quite possibly a poor vintage in 2017. Moreover, in 2014 we isolated what we thought would be a paradigm shift in En Primeur. Estates today are well financed, with low interest rates and high corporation tax in France. This means they neither need to or are incentivised to offer their entire production on release.

In fact, Estates want to be able to release vintages at higher prices later down the line, maximising their profit, but also ensuring the initial quantum of supply is reduced allowing them greater control over pricing. There was an average decrease of approximately 15% in 2016 among major Estates. This, combined with the strong global demand that a great vintage garners, meant that the leading wines were highly allocated indeed. We have very limited stocks of some of the wines of the vintage, including some rare gems, which are all recommended.

Gems of the vintage that you may have missed

Finally, we are delighted to highlight some of the great value picks of the vintage, all with a POP (Price over Points) score of 35 and under. The POP score is calculated by dividing the current price of a 12-bottle case by a 20-point score from The Wine Advocate – this is created by simply subtracting 80 from the original score. Scoring the wines out of 20 increases the weighting of each point and works on the assumption that no wine scoring below 80 points merits investment. The POP score is a useful tool in highlighting value where the lower the score, the greater the value should be. The 2016 vintage is one to stock up on for future drinking, these are special wines with wonderful ageing potential.

Great Value

Many of these wines are in very short supply so will be sold on a first come first served basis. If you would like any recommendations and/or a balanced portfolio of 2016 then please reply to this email or contact your account manager.

To buy any of these wines, click here